Titan Art Online
by Forsaken and Darklost
Summary: Trapped in a virtual world, where defeat means true death, Robin and Raven must fight with only the strength of their swords if they ever want to log out of the world of Sword Art Online. What they find through their journey is a connection that goes beyond anything they ever imagined. Rated M for Language, Violence, and Adult Themed Content. Pairings Robin/Raven.


**Disclaimer: We don't own Teen Titans or Sword Art Online. We only own the plot of this story, all material relating to TT and SAO is the rightful property of Cartoon Network and Aniplex. **

**A/N: Here's a joint fanfiction by both myself and Darklost. We decided to try and get back into the Teen Titan fandom, regardless of that grotesque carnation that CN has dared to air on their channel. If none of you are aware of what I'm talking about, I'm referring to their new Shortie show 'Teen Titans Go!" This is a way for us to try and redeem what started out as one of CNs best shows and sadly wasn't given enough faith. **

**xXx**

**Chapter 1: A Whole New World**

Robin was extremely excited! In just two minutes the world's newest innovation in the world of video games was about to go online. Robin had to keep it a secret from his team, not wanting any of them to mess with his new game system, a helmet-piece called a NerveGear, as he didn't trust Beast Boy not to touch it, or for Cyborg to use it in one of his many projects. He wanted his gear to be in perfect condition for this big event!

A while back without anyone knowing, Robin had become a Beta Tester for a video game called, "Sword Art Online".

It had been the most anticipated game of the entire century. Its entire operating system sent a person's mind into a virtual world where they can interact like they were really there in the game. When he first heard about the game, he had pulled a few strings with his connections back in Gotham to get the beta-set for SAO, the shorter official term for Sword Art Online, and had it mailed to a private mailbox he had set up between himself…and his mentor. It had been pretty easy to sneak it back into the tower after he went out on patrol solo, something he often did.

Since then he had been a secret Beta Tester for the SAO programmers and been having a blast with the game. It had been three weeks since he last dove into SAO. That time had been used to finalize the game and no doubt upgrade it with new surprises and better gaming experience. Robin had his NerveGear set on this bedside stand, looking at the clock as the countdown commenced. As soon as it was noon, the server would open to the world to play Sword Art Online. It was just a matter of seconds now.

What was really nice was that he'd have the next few hours to play as the team was already off to get their own NerveGear set and the game at the store…having forgotten that the game had officially launched today. A blessing in disguise in Robin's opinion. It would give him plenty of time to check out the finished version of the game and get some early EXP for his character. Boy were Beast Boy and Cyborg going to be mad at him when they found out he had gotten early access to the game and had some in-game knowledge.

"Almost time…" Robin said to himself as he looked at his wristwatch, sitting on his bed and counting down the seconds.

Second by second he counted down as he eagerly waited for the server to open. Soon he'd be back in the world of Aincrad; the name of the virtual world players go to when they log onto SAO. His heart continued to race in his chest as his excitement rose as the minutes went by, but finally it was noontime and Robin hopped onto his bed and slipped on his NerveGear headset...after he removed his mask; he found it was very uncomfortable to play with it on. He'd have to lie down when he activated the game. The NerveGear would close off the nerves that controlled his body to prevent from hurting himself during gameplay. Literally, his mind would be in another world, but once he was there, he would be able to move his virtual body like he would his real one. That was what made this game so unique and way beyond anything gamers have ever experienced. For once, the players could actively participate in a game with their own hands and feet, not with some controller staring at an avatar, but really BE the avatar.

Robin had already left a note on his bedside stand in case the others returned sooner than he planned. It was to tell them that he had already started playing and only come get him when an alarm went off. And he was wise enough to eat a big meal before he secluded himself to his room to play. All he had to wait for was the time, and now it was finally game time! Relaxing on his bed with his pillow tucked comfortably under his head so when he woke up, he wouldn't have a sore neck from staying in one position for too long, knowing ahead of time that he'd spend as much time as possible in SAO.

"Finally, I'm going back….Link Start!" Robin said as he logged into Sword Art online.

He felt the pull as his body went limp and he felt his mind dive into the system. It was only a matter of seconds when the blurring lights that signaled mental transference vanished and the avatar he created during his Beta-Testing emerged from a portal of blue light. He blinked two times to readjust his vision to his new environment and looked down to flex his fist as he raised it up to 'feel' his grip and marveling once more how he was able to feel his gloved hand strain as he tightened it harder into a fist.

"Finally, I'm back!" Robin whispered to himself as he looked at the town all players would soon be greeted with once they've logged on.

Eagerly, he ran straight into the waiting town, called Town of Beginnings, running down the first alley and smiling as he saw there were already people logged into the game and exploring the digital town. Players were gathering around the many merchant stalls, looking at the items up for sell. Some were hanging around and chatting with their friends who had just logged on for the first time. Robin idly walked around these people, giving them their space and time to get used to SAO, he had already been exposed to the awe-inspiring world and even though he shared their excitement, it wasn't all that overwhelming for him. He only paused to stop and look at a window of a shop, looking over his avatar. It was still so cool how he felt and experienced everything with another face on.

It was like the mask he wore when he went out to fight crime and save lives, only this mask…undid all that. This mask let him be who he really wanted to be deep down inside, a man that can show the world his true strength. As Robin, he had to always uphold to the identity of a superhero and the sidekick of Batman. As his normal self, when he wasn't Robin but Richard Grayson, he had to hold back the bits that would make him sound out as a crime fighter. But here in SAO, he could take all the best things about him and put them into one character and no one would question his abilities. Here, he could be his true self and this world welcomed it. One of the things that he changed to make him look like someone else was his hair. It was long and hanged in a lazy manner around his head, giving him the impression that he just woke up. His eyes were bare to the world but as his face was modeled to look older, but a few years at least, making him look roughly in his twenties, so it didn't matter if anyone saw the silver color he picked for them to have, almost matching the total white blankness his domino mask provided over his real eyes.

He wanted his avatar to reflect both Robin and Richard Grayson so he picked color schemes from both his aliases to create this new identity. Remembering that he was now back on his game avatar, he would have to stop referring to himself as Robin, the Boy Wonder, even thinking like Robin would make him slip and give away his true identity to other Players. Looking at the health bar that hovered just about his eye-level, he saw the name he had chosen for himself while playing.

"Time to make this world your own, Forsaken!" he said to himself as he pumped a fist at his reflection.

Winking at himself, 'Forsaken', then ran down the alleyway and started making a beeline to a pathway that led out of the Town of Beginnings. He was careful not to be seen, not wanting to be targeted by a noobie to the game. It wasn't out of not caring, as he really did care and would stop to give helpful advice. He just didn't want anyone to find a secret area that would be perfect to start leveling up. It wasn't too difficult to get to, but if you didn't know it was there, then you'd never know to look for it. It spawned some nice monsters that dropped excellent EXP and some decent items that would come in handle later.

The place was hidden by a layer of trees, only a small walkway path from the main fighting fields led into it. Forsaken took a bit of a detour to avoid anyone seeing him go there, then looked quickly to make sure no one could see him go down the path. Seeing the coast was clear, he dashed down the narrow beaten path. It twisted just a bit to the left, giving the illusion there was more forest area, but going five more feet, the path twisted back and out into a whole new opened field. Roaming around the grassy plains were boars that looked more like dinosaurs from the amount of horns sprouting form their backs and the scales running down their legs to their sharp-looking hooves. These things were a challenge for new Players at level one, but for someone who had played the Beta-Test, Forsaken knew just how to strike one down.

Timing was everything. He drew his sword; a default longsword that he could tell was slightly heavy thanks to the NerveGear system. He raised the sword up in a striking pose, bringing the blade up to parallel with his head and began a charged attack. This was signaled when the blade of his weapon began to glow bright red and a hum vibrated in the air. He eyed his prey, a boar-monster idly wandering closer to his location with its wide nose sniffing around on the ground. The game system took over some of his body control as it automatically corrected his posture and he was instantly ready to strike, and then did.

He pivoted straight at the boar-monster and stabbed forward, cutting clean through the right flank of the beast. Skidding to a halt and spinning on the right ball of his foot, he followed up his attack with a downward slash, then swiped the blade to the side, initialing a powerful three-hit combo. The boar-monster froze in mid-air as its health-bar dropped down to zero and then its digital body shattered into glass-like glowing fragments until they too vanished. Forsaken laughed in triumph as a window popped over where the boar-monster was and showed the amount of EXP he had just gained and how much EXP was left until he leveled and saw the monster dropped two items.

Forsaken would check the items later, knowing they'd basically be items used to sell for better gear later on. That would come in handy later, but for now he needed to focus on raising his level. Once he leveled, he'd have an easier time killing the boar-monsters. The trick with the first kill was the charge attack. Had someone attacked the creature with a normal attack, the boar-monster would have easily countered and done some serious damage to his health-bar. The charge-attack stuns a monster for two seconds, giving the Player enough time to land a few more hits. But only normal attacks as a follow up. Had Forsaken tried to use another Charge Attack, the stun time would have ended and the boar-monster would have attacked and he'd have lost all his health as a level one player. Now that he was leveled, he could take one hit if he slipped up…but he wasn't planning on making any mistakes.

He knew how to fight in this game and he was going to really enjoy this game with the knowledge he gained as one of its Beta-Testers.

Looking for another boar-monster to attack, Forsaken repeated the attack combo he had used on the first one, then again on the next one. After a dozen more kills, he had managed to get his character up to level four. Once he got to level ten the EXP would be harder to gain, by then, though, he'd be more than ready to head for the next village. Shouldering his sword, Forsaken started looking around for another monster to kill, when he spotted another Player killing the boar-monsters. The Player was close enough for Forsaken to see the person was using a female gender character, styled with extremely long black hair with lavender highlights that shielded her face and tanned skin. She was dressed in an apprentice gown and wielding an average rapier as her default weapon.

She swept through the boar-monsters as though she was dancing to some unheard melody. Her thrusts landed perfectly on ever target and she leapt through the shattered fragments to the next target. She moved so gracefully and agility that it looked as if she wasn't even touching the ground, but rather, was flying over the grassy plains, striking down monster after monster. She landed one more thrust before she stopped and slowly turned to his direction, probably just now noticing his presence there. He now could make out her face and see the cold, offish expression and dark eyes she was staring him down with.

Forsaken broke the ice quickly. "Here during the Beta-testing?"

"Yeah…" she replied stoically.

"So was I. Took me three days to realize this field was here," Forsaken said, making casual conversation.

"…Took me five and only after I saw someone take the path here," she replied, a faint smile breaking over her face as she averted her eyes. "That was probably you…"

Forsaken shrugged. During the beta-testing he wasn't too careful about hiding himself from others, so it was only natural that someone else during that time would have spotted him. "That's okay. I kinda expected other people who played the beta version to pop up here. My name's Forsaken, what's yours?"

"Darklost…" she replied.

"Nice name!" he complemented with a smile.

She averted her eyes to avoid him seeing the slight shyness in them. "I-It's getting late. My friends should be back soon and I should log off and get some food before they get back."

Forsaken looked at the time located in bottom right of his view-screen. It seemed time had flown by too quickly as it was indeed getting late. "Hmm, I guess I better do the same. I've got some friends that should have gotten their games already. I better go check on them."

"…So…gonna be here again tomorrow?" Darklost asked curiously.

"Till I can get to level ten, yeah." Forsaken replied, placing his hands on his hips.

"I was planning the same…Maybe we can join up and work on leveling together," she offered.

"I'd like that! By then my friends will have gotten their game and we can all join in a party," Forsaken replied happily.

She didn't looked too thrilled about more people, but she did not take back her offer of joining in a party. Seeing that she was okay with it, Forsaken sent her a friend invite. "This will save us time when we log on," Forsaken said, looking up at her from his small friend invite window.

She stared at the invite for a moment, appearing to be reconsidering her choice, but then she shrugged and then hit the accept button, then she pulled up her menu screen and scrolled down to the bottom. "Okay…bye…" she said, but then paused and looked up at him. "Hey…the log out button is gone."

"What?" Forsaken said and then quickly brought up his own and scrolled to the bottom only to find his was also gone. "Huh, that's odd. Why isn't it there?"

"Might be a glitch," Darklost deduced with a frown.

Forsaken narrowed his eyes as he thought. "Hopefully, it is just may be a glitch…but if this is happening to everyone." He then went start to the Game Master window and clicked on it, but nothing happened save for a notice that the GM was unavailable at the moment. This sent a pit of worry in his stomach. He only got this feeling when something really wrong was about to happen. "Something's not right…"

True to his gut feeling, the sound of church bells began to ring everywhere. Forsaken looked up at Darklost in alarm, who was looking up as she too looked worried with what this could mean. There was nothing like this that happened during the beta. Suddenly, Forsaken was covered in blue light and he cried out in alarm as he the field around him blurred away. When he blue light vanished he found himself back in town, at the center of it where a large clock tower rested in the middle.

"We were just teleported…" Forsaken gasped, looking around and spotted Darklost right beside him.

"This isn't part of game!" Darklost warned, widening her eyes as more and more people started to appear around them.

Many were shouting and asking what was going on. Forsaken heard one guy think it just might be an opening ceremony for the game, but the feeling his gut told him otherwise. He heard a cling of a window open that drew his attention up to the sky where a crimson window appeared. More began to rapidly appear, covering the sky in a crimson dome over the entire town. Then as if things couldn't get freakier, from between the cracks in the dome, a red liquid began to drip down and soon poured out like blood escaping a wound. People began to shout in panic as the liquid started to fall from the sky, but it stopped short of hitting them and began to collect and blobbed out into a form.

"What is that!?" random people began to cry.

The form began to take shape and soon it looked like a giant of a man in a heavy crimson robe with golden trims. There was no face. Just a blank void of darkness the robe's hood provided to hide any form of identification. Slowly, it rose up arms up ending white gloved hands, stretched out lazily to draw everyone's attention to it.

"Attention, players," the crimson robed being said with a voice devoid of all feeling. "Welcome to my world…"

"…My world?" Forsaken repeated as realization dawned on him.

The crimson robed being continued. "My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."

Forsaken clinched his fists and his jaw as he stared up at the being. He knew Kayaba Akihiko from all the articles about Sword Art Online mentioned about the game as this man…was the game's creator.

"I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the menu," Kayaba said as he raised one gloved hand up and sliced it down, bringing a large menu screen, he scrolled down to where the logout button should be and tapped it, then continued, "…But this is not a defect in the game. I repeat…This is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online."

"A feature?" Darklost said with dread in her voice, coming to a very horrifying conclusion.

"You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life," Kayaba revealed.

There was a moment of pause to give all the players time to let that truly sink through. Many were denying what he said as the truth and some brushed it off as some poor attempt to frighten them. Two players just scoffed at the giant form of Kayaba and started heading for the exit, only to be prevented from leaving by some invisible wall. Startling the two and crying in outrage. Forsaken heard many people wondering if Kayaba was kidding, but Forsaken knew that it to be true. He knew the transmitter signal in the NerveGear headset worked like a microwave. If someone had disabled the safety on the headset…then it was completely possible. What made this more problematic was that the NerveGear had an internal battery, one that could last for a very long time…

Kayaba continued with more grim news. "Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning, and have removed the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world."

"…Oh god. Two hundred and thirteen?" Forsaken whispered to himself, the horror of it all flashing freely over his face.

Multiple windows began popping up around Kayaba's form, showing news bulletins and reporters speaking about the situation to the entire world. "As you can see, news organizations from across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone in the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously, The NerveGear will destroy your brain."

Forsaken froze as he remembered back to when he fought that boar-monster. Had he been new to the game, had he not known how to defeat that monster, it would have dropped his health down to zero…and he would have died right then, for real. There was nothing but silence from the crowd as everyone also came to this same conclusion.

"There is only one means of escape. To complete the game," Kayaba explained as he touched another window panel and a map of the entire game appeared behind him. One small area was glowing red. "You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make it through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level." As he said this, pillars began to glow red where they connected to the next floor of the map until it finally reached the very top. "Defeat the final boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."

Some people murmured to themselves at this news, some not believing what was being asked of them. Forsaken was bewildered, totally. Clearing all the floors? Just to logout? What kind of insanity drove this man to do such a thing? What was more, it was reported before the beta game closed down that none of the Beta Testers had reached the final floor, none were able to beat the game…

Kayaba lowered his hand and seemed to be reaching the end of his speech. "Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please, see for yourselves."

Not able to do anything else, Forsaken opened his Item Storage window and searched it, scrolling up to an item he knew he didn't get from killing those boar-monsters. "Mirror?" he uttered in confusion. Tapping on it and clicking the open button, the window disappeared as the item in question materialized before him. It was an actual mirror as the name said and he when gazed at it, it showed his avatar's face. He paused in wonder to what this item was supposed to do, until…

Flickers of light began to appear, covering everyone as it had when they were teleported into the center of town. Soon the entire town was glowing brightly but it only lasted for a few seconds. Forsaken was also succumbed by this light and he dropped his mirror and started looking around frantically, thinking he was about to be teleported again, maybe to some unknown part of the Floor. Yet when the light faded away, he was still in the Town of Beginnings…but something was different. When he looked to were Darklost was standing, he nearly lost control of his jaw muscles as he saw not the black-haired girl with the deep tan…but a very pale girl with familiar short, dark lavender hair and a red chakra-gem embedded on her forehead.

"Raven?" Forsaken uttered, not believing who he saw.

Raven turned to him and locked her amethyst shaded eyes and they widened in shock. "…Is…Is that you, R—!? she stopped herself as she realized she almost blurted out his identity. She was completely shell-shocked to find Robin here with her…and was more without his mask! For the first time, she was seeing his face without anything covering his eyes and she was reward with a set of perfect blue eyes.

He quickly realized his predicament, but he wasn't able to do anything about it. This game just revealed who he really was and he could do nothing to hide his face from everyone around him. His only hope was that no one made the connection with him standing next to Raven to whom he might really be…

He wasn't the only one surprised by this revelation. Some were gapping at Players who had once been female, now staring at a guy dressed in a female character's outfit.

Robin buzzed through his mind to figure out how this had happened, but not even a second went by and he realized that it had to have been the NerveGear. It completely surrounded the entire head, so it must have also been equipped with a high-density signaling device, allowing it to see what someone's face was like. It then finally made sense to him to another part of when he was setting up the NerveGear. He had to pat his entire body down to calibrate it. In reality, it was getting his height and measurements! Robin wondered why this was happening, but it seemed Kayaba was more than willing to explain that.

"Right now, you're probably wondering, "Why? Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do all this?" My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason…To create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete." Kayaba's hooded head began to shake and move, the rims of his hood wavering. "This ends tutorial for the official Sword Art Online Launch. Good luck, players." Then his body began to defrag and as fake smoke rose out of his gloves as they fell from his body. His robes started to deflate like a giant balloon and collapse in on itself and the robe returned to its liquid form and returned to the cracks in the dome. Then as the last wisp of Kayaba vanished, the paneled dome vanished, revealed a dusk-filling sky.

There was need for anyone to explain why the entire mass populace who stood in the town were all so quiet. No one counted the moments of how long this silence ruled over them, not until one little girl finally clicked back to her current new reality and dropped the mirror that had revealed her real identity in the game, screaming and backing up and bumping into the person behind her. This triggered everyone out of their daze and soon a full-blown riot broke out and everyone was running for what they believed would be the exit that would take them away from this nightmare. Many were screaming up at the sky, demanding to be let out, calling Kayaba many profanities and ordering him to let them go.

As this was happening, Robin noticed a shimmer around the entire town, revealing the invisible barrier that had trapped everyone in the center of town had dropped. Reacting on his first instinct, Robin quickly snuck up on Raven and grabbed her hand and whispered into her ear. "Follow me, Raven!"

Raven was still a bit stunned from what had just been explained to them, but she forced herself to snap out of it and turned to follow Robin to wherever he was going. They never stopped until they were in a secluded alley, and only after he made sure there was no one else present, did he speak. "We need to go back to that hidden pasture with the boar-monsters!"

"You mean…so we can level up?" Raven concluded, not believing what he was thinking. "We need to find Kayaba and get him to stop this game, now, Robin!"

"This isn't the same world we're used to dealing with, Raven!" Robin surprised her by shouting. "Trust me, I was in something like this one when the Riddler had trapped Commissioner Gordon's mind in a game, but this is grand-scaled! We only managed to get out because Batman played on the Riddler's weakness to be in the game with us and try to outwit him, but this guy isn't the Riddler, he isn't someone we're used to fighting against. This man is truly insane and he probably is the only one that can log out whenever he wishes!"

"T-Than that means, no one inside the game can get to him…talk to him into letting us out," Raven uttered in fear. Kayaba had literally trapped thousands of lives in this world where only his rules apply. They were stuck playing his mad game of survival and there was only one choice they had. "…So we have no choice but to beat this game, or we'll forever be trapped in here."

"Until the Justice League and figure out a way to log everyone out without activating the microwave burst that'll kill us. But I think Kayaba had foreseen them attempting and planned for it…so we have no choice but to play and beat this game if we want to survive it," Robin said grimly.

"This is crazy. What is the point to this?" Raven said in frustration.

"There doesn't need to be a point. The fact is that it has been done and we're now a source of entertainment for a madman," Robin replied curtly.

"We need to help people. We have to try and get them to calm down if we are to…" Raven was stopped when Robin shook his head.

"They won't listen, Raven. This is not the real world…this is a matter of survival. Human nature will kick in and those out of desperation will do whatever they think they must in order to survive it," Robin said, bringing up a digital map. "The only way to do that is to become as strong as possible. This means the resources are vital as this is a MMORPG. Everyone will begin hunting around town and cleaning out the fields. We only have a limited window of opportunity to level up at that secret spot, and then we need to reach the next village as soon as possible and complete the quests there in order to get any adequate EXP and items that will help us."

Raven was not happy with what he was suggesting. This plan would mean they would have to abandon people, people they had sworn when they became Titans to defend and protect from various kinds of evil. But…Raven was a realist. How could you protect someone who no longer cared to follow the rules of the real world? In this game, people were going to go about it like any MMORPG. They will selfishly do everything they can to get the most EXP, the best items, gears, weapons, etc. Kayaba had just made this a game of desperation for everyone trapped inside it. And when a person was desperate, there was no telling what nature would be revealed. People would stop caring about their fellow friends. They would start turning their backs on them in order to get whatever they felt will give them the edge. Robin had deduced this already and was preparing how to deal with it.

It was heartless and it meant that they would be robbing other Players of a chance to gain the now-much-needed EXP for them in order to beat the game…but who would show them that same kindness? Raven couldn't think of anything else to do. Their choices were limited now. They had to do whatever it took to survive for now, that was all that mattered. "All right…let's head out," she said softly and started walking down the darkened alley. "It's only a matter of time before other Beta Testers figure this out and run off to take advantage of what they know. We need to hurry if we want to get a good heads start."

"Raven…don't think I'm doing this purely for selfish reasons. I…" now she cut him off with a quick jerk of her head as she looked at him over her shoulder.

"I know you, Robin! I know…the person that you are and how much this must be tearing at you. But…I'm not an idiot and I know there's no chance of saving everyone, no matter how much we want to. There will be loses. We need to do what we must now to survive this madness, even if it means killing a bit of ourselves along the way," Raven said bitterly. "Come on, before people realize who we are. We need to get out of here."

Silently agreeing with her, Rob—No, he had to forsake his real names, even their superhero names. "Raven, from this point on...I can't use my name, my real name…I can't let anyone know I'm Robin. From now on, I will have to use my avatar name…I have to give up my name as Robin…"

The distraught look on his face sent a stab of pain through Raven's heart. She understood how important his name was, even if it wasn't his real name, it was still the name that defined him. To have to give that up was like giving up your life, but considering what had just happened all their lives were just taken away because of some mad man.

"…Then I will, too," Raven said suddenly. "The next time, I will have to find a hood or something I can hide my identity. If people see us together they will connect the clues that you're Robin as well…after all, with how the other Titans look, a kid can deduce you're Robin."

He hadn't thought about that. In his haste to beat everyone else, he overlooked one critical thing. But that wouldn't be fair on Raven, for her to give up her name. That was the only name she had ever had…

Raven saw the thought that went through his eyes. Now without that mask of his on, she could read his mind though his eyes. "We're sticking together. If we're going to get through this, we need to stay a team….like always."

That halted exactly what Robin was about to do. It was just him and Raven now…they were the only ones they could trust in this game. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. It's your weakness to try and carry all the burden, but you're not alone. We'll get through this together…like we've done before," Raven said, reminiscing that one moment when Robin pulled her out of her self-doubt when her father had turned the earth into hell. He was there for her and now she was going to be here for him. Placing her hand on the hilt of her blade, she tightened her grip. "We need to go now…Forsaken."

He turned to face the dark exit of the town, squeezing his fists and resolving himself to what had to be done. "Got it…let's head out…R—Darklost," he said with finality.

She nodded to him just ever so briefly, accepting the situation and then as one, they swiftly ran out of the Town of Beginnings to head back to the secret spot. As they ran wildly to reach it, a Dire Wolf appeared in the pathway, snarling at them as a real wolf would do. Neither of them slowed down as the Dire Wolf launched itself at them. Both simultaneously reached for their swords and drew them and activated their Charge Attack and let out a battle cry. And with once swipe, they slashed at the animal, leaving a blazing trail in their wake as they continued to run past the now frozen Dire Wolf until its body shattered into glowing fragments.

They did not need to know what the other was thinking. It was clear what they both were thinking: They will survive this game…

**xXx**


End file.
